Picture it: you’re all done designing and laying out a beautiful 500 page book and the client comes back to you and says, “We really need to make those blue subtitles red and delete the book’s title at the bottom of all the right hand pages. Oh, and we need to send it to the printer today.”

Ok, so maybe that’s an extreme example, but can you just see it? Forget today! Changing all those elements on every page would take a century! If only you had set up your master pages and paragraph styles before you started… too bad for you.

Don’t make that mistake again!

As soon as you take your next project into InDesign, set up your master pages and paragraph and character styles!

Master Pages - What are They?

Master pages are used to set up repeating elements like page numbers and running headers or footers.

Master Pages - How to Use Them

Use master pages to contain repeating elements, as mentioned above. You can also create guides for your grid on master pages that will then appear on any document pages that have that master page applied.

Text boxes for copy can be set up on master pages, too, but you’ll have to detach them (Ctrl+Shift+Click on the object) from the master page before you can use them. Once you detach an object from the master page, any changes you make to that object on the master will not apply to the detached object. To reattach an object to the master, select it and go to the arrow button on the Pages Palette, click the arrow and select Remove Selected Local Overrides.

Master Pages – Using Multiple Masters

Layering master elements in different master pages is not uncommon. Sometimes you have several different kinds of pages—pages with lists, pages that have the beginning of an article and pages with the article continuing, for example.

In the example above, you would have a Master Page A with the page numbers and document title runners. Then you would create a new master for the pages that have the beginnings of articles on them and base this new master on Master Page A. You would also create a master page for the continuation of the articles, which would be based on Master Page A, too.

You can layer as many master pages in this fashion as you need to, each building more and more detail into the types of pages you need to create. Don’t get carried away, though, master pages are not where you do the majority of your layout!

Quick tip: in InDesign, if you double click on the name of the master page in the Pages Palette, you will select the whole page. Then, if you go to Layout>Create Guides to set up your grid, it will now be set up on both pages at the same time (the number of columns you set still applies only to one page, though).

Similarly, if you drag out your own guides from the ruler, positioning the cursor outside the page for horizontal guides, the guide will stretch across both pages in a spread, instead of just one.

Applying Master Pages

Ah, yes! The most important part! I almost forgot. You need to apply the master pages to your document pages. There are two ways to apply the master pages:

You can create a new page or spread in the document by selecting the master page(s) (double click on the master name to select the spread) from the top half of the Pages Palette and dragging it down to a blank area or space in between spreads on the bottom half. This creates a new page/spread with the master already applied.

If you already have started working on a layout page and decide you need to apply a new or different master page to it, select the master page/spread from the top of the palette and drag it onto the page you’re working on. Master page items are always below layout page objects in terms of stacking order.

So do you think you have the guts to start switching from Quark to InDesign? In this series we’ll talk about InDesign basics, Paragraph and Character Styles, InDesign Layers and common shortcuts—the keys to really start unlocking InDesign’s power.